Calavera Hills Middle School eighth-graders Ezra Arellano, left, and Emily Flaherty, work on powering a light bulb using the fewest wires possible on Feb. 5. The students are also participating in the Nordson Corporation’s alternative energy competition. Photo by Steve Puterski

Middle schoolers tackle Nordson energy challenge

CARLSBAD —
Science is helping lead the way to address energy concerns, even in schools.

At
Calavera Hills Middle School, along with the two other schools in the Carlsbad
Unified School District, students put the finishing touches on their entries for
an essay-based competition sponsored by Carlsbad-based Nordson
Corporation.

In Aaron
Sottile’s eighth-grade science class, students were challenged with which
alternative energy source provides the most promise in the future. As for the
essay, it can come in a traditional manner or through a poster or brochure.

“We’re
embedding it with our energy unit,” Sottile said. “There’s also a section about
human impacts. We decided this was a good place to combine those efforts. The
products are highly variable … and there is no one right answer to this.”

The
winning entry for each grade level is awarded an iPad mini and the department
for each school receives $500 if 75 percent of the student body participates.
There will also be a STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) assembly,
Sottile said.

A solar
car design challenge is also part of the unit, but separate from the Nordson
competition, he said. Students will build a small solar car, the size of a toy
car, incorporating electrical energy, circuitry and other concepts.

San
Diego-based Sullivan Solar Power does a yearly solar car challenge, which
Sottile said he is attempting to enter this year. If not, it will just be a
school challenge.

“We’ve
done exercises with how solar panels work,” Sottile said. “We bundle all these
different concepts into this design challenge.”

The
students, meanwhile, are learning more than just science and engineering. The
challenge, along with other coursework, pushes the middle schoolers to include
critical thinking and problem solving skills, along with how to present a
concept.

While some
students use wind or other alternative energy forms, Miles Call and Taryn
Stivers, both 14, are each working on solar projects for the Nordson challenge.

Taryn said
her research has led her to present why solar is the most efficient and
cost-effective method moving forward. Also, she said, it reduces pollution and
the sun is a constant source with an incredibly long lifespan.

“It’s a
healthy energy to use,” Taryn said.

Miles said
it is the second cheapest alternative energy source to generate, next to wind
power. Like Taryn, he said the lifespan is a huge plus, and other organisms use
the sun to “power themselves.”

He noted
plants and trees use the sun for photosynthesis, which synthesizes food from
carbon dioxide and water.

“I like
how we got to see how energy is transferred into potential and kinetic,” Miles
said.